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Races
Race, Fantasy, and Fantasy Races So, Dungeons and Dragons is heavily influenced by Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings is racist as FUCK. All the evil fantasy races (orcs, goblins, etc) are explicitly called out as being dark skinned, the evil humans "from the south" are a blatant racist caricature of Arabic people, and dwarves are an anti-Semitic mess. So, what do we with the fact that the inspiration for a lot of the DnD source material is pretty terrible? We could just throw it all out into the cold and try to restart, but a lot of this stuff is pretty heavily embedded into our cultural understanding of fantasy. You say Dwarf and you see short, squat, cave dwelling Scottish people with giant noses who love gold. You say Orc and you see dark green or grey skinned monster people with fangs who are physically strong, but stupid. Introducing players into a world involves a ton of exposition already, trying to introduce an entirely new pantheon of fantasy races is just going to make things more difficult. So, I am taking a middle road and trying to alter the existing tropes to excise the shitty stuff and replace it with not shitty stuff! Whether or not I have been successful is still up for debate. Dwarves and Goblins The Dwarves and Goblins were created first by Waukeen, as she was wanting companions in creation. Are created from different magical sources, so no interbreeding. Both groups share a deep love of artistic expression thanks to their mother and anything created by either of them will near universally be covered in small carvings, paintings, and other bits of expression of the self. Dwarves http://calaset.wikia.com/wiki/Dwarves Iamlocked in Goblins God is sustained Humans, Elves, and Orcs Inspired by the Dwarves and Goblins, Milaka created the Elves, Orcs, and Humans all from the same magical source and just given different gifts, hence their ability to interbreed somewhat successfully. Intercourse between Elves/Orcs/Humans tends to create fewer viable pregnancies than sex between people only in one group. Splits between High Elves/Wood Elves, different races of Humans, and the various Orcish groups occurred over time. Humans Basic starting point: most humans on Calaset specifically aren't white. This was a decision I made early on, because why the hell not? The two major Human ethnicities on Calaset are "Arizima" (based on Han Chinese people) and "Rashemi" (Odia Indian people). I stole Arizima and Rashemi from the 5E PHB if I remember correctly, they aren't super important, change them to whatever you want. Additionally, all Humans in Western Calaset are immigrants, there might have been some in Eastern Calaset, but I am not sure yet :D. Next starting point: Humans of all ethnicities exist at various places in the world, and on Calaset. The coastal cities in particular are major trade hubs, so various peoples from all over the world will be seen passing through. Whatever ethnicity of human you want to make, it exists in the setting. Elves Sustainedwithin Orcs Iam lockedin Infernals and Part Infernals Created by Beshaba in response to Milaka’s creation of Humans, Elves, and Orces races. Infernals are agents of pure change, capable of walking the different planes but spend most of their time interacting with other mortals in disguise. Due to their coming from a copy of the same magical spark as Milaka's races, they are capable of interbreeding, creating Tieflings (Tee-Flings, part Human, part Infernal), Siannodi (See-An-No-De, part Elf, part Infernal), and Od Iyesi (Ot-Yai-E-See, part Orc, part Infernal). The reasons why part Infernal people carry infernal heritage is as varied as the people themselves; while it is commonly assumed that they exist because of their parents making some sort of deal with an Infernal, that is actually not true. Any kind of contact with Infernals, positive or negative, can leave a mark that can pass down through your bloodline. Additionally, not every child of parents with Infernal heritage in them will develop or show it, with it even skipping generations sometimes. This leads to even further confusion and fear surrounding part Infernals that only deepens most people suspicion of them. Infernels Curiouscuriouscurious curiouser Tieflings http://calaset.wikia.com/wiki/Tieflings God is sustainedbyyourcurious Siannodi http://calaset.wikia.com/wiki/Siannodi Iamlockedin Od Iyesi http://calaset.wikia.com/wiki/Od_Iyesi Curiouscuriouscurious curiouserispain Celestials Frustrated with the chaos being spread by the proliferation of races and Beshaba’s creatures running free, Tyr and Atmos grudgingly worked together to create the Celestials as their agents to enforce their wills, bringing stability wherever they feel it is needed, which in their eyes, is every corner of the planes. Draconic Races Dragons and the draconic races were made by Hinara out of his desire for companions to help him build long lasting institutions and inspire others to do the same, even if by force. The Dragonborn and Kobolds were created by the Greater Dragons with Hinara’s help, in order to help the long lived but few in number First Borns achieve their goals. Greater Dragons Helphelphelphelphelphelphelphelpcuriousityfindsusall Dragonborn HelphelphelphelphelpIamlockedinhelphelphelp Kobolds http://calaset.wikia.com/wiki/Kobolds Godissustainedbycuriouscuriouscurious curiouserispainhelphelphelphelp Halfings Created by Leira, for entirely unknown purposes, sharing her love of subtlety, deflection, and always playing your hand close to your chest. Well not malicious, Halfings are often seen as untrustworthy on principle, and also often have a dry, sarcastic wit that few others understand. Gnomes Created by Sune as a counterpoint to the Infernals, desiring the freedom and passion they inspired without the pain they caused by the Infernal's wide spread havoc. SPOILERS FOR ECLIPSE PHASE Weewoooooooweewooooooooweewooooo *Kill Bill music sting* Speculative Races From this point forward, these are races that aren't from/related to the 5E Player's Handbook races. Some are playable, some aren't, look at the relevant pages for info. These aren't either aren't currently part of the base Calaset setting due to the fact that I haven't expanded on them far enough yet (Kenku and Naga for example will hopefully be a base race relatively soon, but I might leave them out), or are meant to be people that the players might encounter should they leave Calaset. As always, if you want this stuff to be in the base Calaset setting, jam it in and see how it goes! Kenku Flightless crow people! http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Kenku Merpeople Amphibious sorcerer race? Dunno yet! I just think the Zora from LoZ: Breath of the Wild look super cool, and want that aesthetic in the game somewhere. http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Mipha Naga Snake people! https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Naga,_Tirr_(3.5e_Race) If I add them, they will probably be loosely based off those stat blocks. Gorgons Classically in DnD "gorgon" refers to a giant bull creature made out of metal? http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Gorgon I have always thought that was kind of dumb when snake hair ladies who can turn people to stone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon) are fucking awesome, and for personal reasons I prefer "Gorgons" as the race name over "Medusas". Figure out something else to call your giant metal bull creatures. They will never be a playable race if they are ever included in the game, think of them more like Greater Dragons. Extremely powerful physically and magically, long lived, possibly rule over groups of Merpeople and/or Nagas.Category:Browse Category:Races